ARTICLES ABOUT TAX HOLIDAY BY DATE - PAGE 3

By: Aashish Kasad, Tax Partner, EY 1. Remove retrospective amendment brought in Finance Act, 2012 Retrospective amendment has created an uncertainty in the tax environment. It is critical that the industry is provided with a tax environment which is clear and certain and therefore Government could send a message that it does not intend to go ahead with retrospective amendments and the judgements of the Courts will be respected which would boost the industry sentiments positively.

By Raju Kumar, Tax Partner - Oil & Gas practice, EY Oil & Gas is essential for economic development of any country and for an import dependent country like India, it plays a major role in fuelling its economic growth. India is the 8th largest oil consumer in the world and expected to be the 5th largest by 2025. The investment outlay in the oil and gas sector over the next 25 years is expected to be US$ 110 -120 billion. As more areas and opportunities are presented for investment in oil & gas sector, hopes remain high from the newly elected government to address the key issues currently being faced by the industry and bolster the investor sentiment.

Samir Kanabar, Tax Partner - Infrastructure practice, EY Next five years belong to growth and development of infrastructure. Going by past estimates, if India has to invest $ 1 trillion into Infrastructure, then the policy or road map should be laid out to attract such investment....obviously this calls for attracting foreign investment. This calls for a paradigm shift in thinking process and there seems to be enough confidence that new government will bring in new life into sinking infrastructure sector.

By Raju Kumar, Tax Partner, EY Power has remained one of the key inputs for economic and social development of any country. In a power deficit country like India, the sector assumes all the more importance in view of its ever-increasing energy needs. Thus, it is imperative for the government to bolster the power sector and develop adequate power infrastructure to achieve sustainable economic growth. The newly elected government acknowledges the importance of this sector as reflected by its endeavour to address bottlenecks facing the sector by clubbing together the Power and Coal ministries under one Union Minister, as well as its commitment to provide "Power for All by 2022".

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Budget, global consultancy firm PwC says government needs to invest up to $ 5 billion (around Rs 30,000 crore) each year for the next five years to enable biotech sector to become a $ 100 billion industry by 2025. As part of the wish-list for the pharmaceutical sector in the upcoming Budget, the consultancy firm has also asked the government to allocate Rs 500 crore each year from the R&D cess accessible by the Technology Development Board to stimulate the biotech sector.

NEW DELHI: Japan, the fourth largest foreign investor in India, has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to clear policy hurdles faced by some of its companies and fast-tracking of a few projects that it is backing in the country. Japanese ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi recently raised the matter in a letter to the prime minister, mentioning companies including Eisai Pharma, Mitsubishi, Honda and Toyota that faced some issues in India. The prime minister's office has asked the departments concerned to look into the matter, a government official said on the condition of anonymity, adding, "There are a number of policy related issues that have been raised.

NEW DELHI: Looking to give a new lease of life to special economic zones (SEZs), the commerce department has strongly pitched for allowing units in the taxfree enclaves to sell part of their production in the local market and the extension of benefits under the Focus Products and Focus Market export promotion schemes. The department has also lobbied the finance ministry to scrap minimum alternate and dividend distribution taxes for SEZ units. "The scheme needs to be overhauled to boost manufacturing in the country," said a government official, confirming that the three measures cited above ranked high on the department's agenda for reviving the programme.

NEW DELHI: Looking to give a new lease of life to special economic zones (SEZs), the commerce department has strongly pitched for allowing units in the taxfree enclaves to sell part of their production in the local market and the extension of benefits under the Focus Products and Focus Market export promotion schemes. The department has also lobbied the finance ministry to scrap minimum alternate and dividend distribution taxes for SEZ units. The scheme needs to be overhauled to boost manufacturing in the country," said a government official, confirming that the three measures cited above ranked high on the department's agenda for reviving the programme.

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry has vetoed the oil ministry's plan to provide special benefits like a 10-year tax holiday and zero cess and royalty for ultra deep water exploration, which the oil ministry wanted under the proposed new oil and gas licensing regime to replace the controversial New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp). The finance ministry has sent its initial comments on a proposal sent during the UPA government's tenure, aiming to replace Nelp with a noncontroversial uniform licensing policy (ULP)

NEW DELHI: Gujarat angle could come to the aid of floundering special economic zones (SEZs), conceived as specialised enclaves to push exports. The commerce department will push for the withdrawal of taxes like minimum alternate tax (MAT) and dividend distribution tax (DDT) on these zones as part of a bigger strategy to revive them and boost manufacturing. Gujarat has the largest notified SEZ land, making the policy change that much more marketable to the incoming Narendra Modi government . The original programme provided for a complete tax holiday to SEZs for the first five years and tax at a discounted rate for the next five years.